Ride a Long in a Police Car

On Friday, March 11th, I was sent on a ride along in zone 6 on evening watch from 3pm-11pm. It was definitely an experience I will never forget. I thought I would have been assigned to a veteran officer but the sargeant on evening watch wanted me to ride with a rookie who was in class 214, which was only three classes ahead of me. The first thing we did when we got to the car was check for dents, drugs, and weapons to make sure the person who had the car on day shift took everything with them. Everything was clear and we were ready to start our day. The officer, who shall remain nameless, showed me how to sign on the computer and he got on the radio to let the dispatcher know that he was ready to start his day. He let me know that he wasn't answering 911 calls that day, but rather he was what was known as an umbrella car, meaning he answered other officers calls if they were busy with another call or he assisted them if they needed help.

This first call was a domestic disturbance. An older man in his 60's claimed that his 35 year old son punched him in the face and wanted to press charges. The older man had a swollen left eye and could barely see. So we went up and down Moreland Avenue in search for the son to arrest him and question him about the incident that occurred. We searched for 10 minutes and could not find him. We then pulled into a Mrs. Winner's parking lot and noticed a guy who fit the discription of the man's son. The son spotted us looking at him and jumped on the MARTA bus. At this point there wsas nothing we could do so we went back to the older man's house and gave him a number to call if he still wanted to press charges. The officer got on the radio and told dispatch that we were leaving the scene and that there was no report or arrests made.

Our last call for the day was pretty interesting. We saw a man speed through a four way stop sign and into an apartment coomplex. We pulled him over and found more things that just weren't right. He looked him up on the MDT and found that he had current car insurance but his registration expired in December 2009. We couldn't believe that know one pulled him over for his expired registration. He had his registration sticker hidden by a cord so know one would suspect him of having invalid registration. The officer gave the man two tickets. One for running a stop sign and one for not having valid registration. He also called for a wrecker to come and tow the car as well. I learned so much that evening and I feel as though every recruit should go on a ride along at least twice a month while in the academy. It gives the recruit a glimpse of what they have to look forward to.